How to track Crew-3’s flight up to the International Space Station

Arin Waichulis | Nov 10 2021 - 7:41 pm PT

Shortly ago, SpaceX’s fifth crewed mission set off on its 20-hour journey to the International Space Station (ISS). Here’s how you can track the mission live online.

Things in orbit move fast, very fast. The average speed of the ISS is roughly 17,500 miles per hour (that’s about five miles per second!). Because of this, anything heading up to the space station doesn’t do go straight up. A trip to the space station takes many orbits. This means the spacecraft moves in a lower orbit to complete each orbit faster than the ISS. This allows the spacecraft to catch up to the station and at the right moment it will speed up, raising its orbit, to match the ISS’s orbit.

NASA’s four-astronaut crew aboard the Dragon Endurance is currently doing just that. A Falcon 9 rocket sent the crew into orbit at 9:03 p.m. EST from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX and NASA will be providing 24/7 coverage of Crew-3’s trip to the ISS. You can find this on NASA TV, which is streamed on their YouTube channel and social media sites, uninterrupted. SpaceX will also host the coverage on their YouTube channel, but its streams will be split into individual streams. You can rewatch the launch already, and as of writing this, you can watch the “Coast” stream, which will end before docking. You can also check with your cable provider if they have NASA TV available to watch as well.

Major milestones coming up during Crew-3’s coast phase

All events take place on Thursday, November 11.

Dragon boost burn 1 – 2:21 a.m. EST
Dragon boost burn 2 – 3:25 a.m. EST
Crew-3 wake up – 2:00 p.m. EST
Dragon transfer burn – 2:06 p.m. EST
Go/No-Go for Dragon approach to station – 5:15 p.m. EST
Approach initiation burn – 5:40 p.m. EST
Endurance 1 KM from station – 6:12 p.m. EST
Endurance enters “Keep Out Sphere” – 6:15 p.m. EST
Go/No-Go for docking – 7:01 p.m. EST
“Soft docking” to station – 7:10 p.m. EST
“Hard docking” to station – 7:23 p.m. EST

You can also track Endurance on SpaceX’s website, where the company provides real-time positions of Endurance and the ISS.

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